This invention relates to engine mounts including bracket and isolator elements attached to an engine for mounting the engine in a vehicle frame. Further, the invention relates to the combination of a vehicle frame or cradle and an engine mount assembly.
Many types of engine mounts have been utilized in automotive vehicles to support and cushion an engine within a vehicle frame or cradle. In addition to providing satisfactory support and restraint of the engine, the engine mounts must be designed to provide ease of installation of the engine during assembly of the vehicle.
The present invention provides an engine mount system or assembly for mounting an engine in a vehicle frame, such as, in a particular embodiment, a truck frame. The mounting assembly simplifies engine decking by providing self-positioning and self-aligning of the engine, permitting control by a single operator. The mount assembly accepts large variations in tolerance stack-ups and holds the engine in position until mounting bolts to the frame are secured. As used in a truck frame, the assembly allows easy bolt access with an air wrench to the outer sides of the frame.
The mount assembly features the addition of three tubular supports or tubes extending through the frame rail and projecting from its inner side. The tubes include through openings for receiving bolts which engage a frame side bracket. The bracket includes an upper lip that forms spaced dual inverted V wedges or recesses which engage and provide alignment of the frame bracket on a spaced upper pair of the tubes. The upper tubes may have flared inner ends that engage slots formed in the V recesses to hold the frame bracket in position prior to bolt installation. An additional lower tube forms a triangular arrangement of tubes within the frame rail. The lower tube protrudes further inside the frame rail than the spaced upper tubes and the frame bracket has an inclined face to laterally center the engine upon assembly while the V recesses of the lip provide longitudinal centering as they engage and rest upon the upper pair of tubes.
The frame bracket is connected to the engine prior to assembly by an isolator and an engine side bracket mounted to the engine. The engine and engine mount assembly are lowered into position together for final assembly to the frame. The frame mounting bolts are then installed through the tubes from the outside of the frame rail and screwed into threaded openings in the frame bracket, fixing the engine in position. If desired, the isolator may be attached between the brackets through a laterally oblong opening that allows alignment of the isolator after the engine is positioned. The tubular supports provide not only mounting protrusions but also help stiffen the frame rail at the point of assembly with the engine.
These and other features and advantages of the invention will be more fully understood from the following description of a specific embodiment of the invention taken together with the accompanying drawings.